September 25th, 2009 Yokohama BayStars 2 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5 Streak: Won 3  Last 5: LLWWW (Jingu Stadium) For the third time in as many games a Tokyo starter lasted all nine innings, and the birds were able to continue their mini-revival (third win in a row) versus the 6th-place BayStars.

September 13th, 2009 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2 Chunichi Dragons 7 Streak: Lost 8    Last 5: LLLLL (Nagoya Dome) The Swallows long slide to fifth place continues. Hanshin’s win over Yokohama means that Dave was right, and the birds now find themselves in fourth place at the end of the weekend.

September 1st, 2009 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1 Hanshin Tigers 6 Streak: Lost 5    Last 5:  LLLLL (Koshien) The Tokyo Swallows kicked off an absolutely enormous week in defense of their ever-weakening hold on third place (and a playoff spot) by traveling down to Hanshin territory for a series versus the resurgent Tigers. Refreshingly, the [...]

August 19th, 2009 Hanshin Tigers 2 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4 Streak: Won 1     Last 5:  LLWLW (Jingu Stadium) After regaining his spot in the first team rotation, Tateyama pitched a decent seven innings and helped Tokyo take a game from the visiting Hanshin Tigers.

Pitcher Shouhei Tateyama (no. 25) has returned to the top team after a brief spell on the farm. The right-handed ace was sent down after a shelling at the hands of the Giants, and his absence has been clearly evident as the replacement contingent hasn’t done a very good job of filling in for him. [...]

After mentioning that I thought we might be seeing 25-year-old, second year player, Masayoshi Miwa, on the first team before long, it turns out that I was wrong. Takada instead chose to promote a different second year guy, 26-year-old outfielder, Toshihiro Nakao (no. 56). He apparently has been one of the best hitters this season [...]

August 7th, 2009 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 7 Yomiuri Giants 10   Streak: Lost 3   Last 5: LWLLL (Tokyo Dome) The birds fought back pretty hard, but boy oh boy this was a rough one.

July 31st, 2009 Chunichi Dragons 2 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3 Streak: Won 1    Last 5: WWLLW (Jingu Stadium) Tateyama tallied his second win of the month at home versus the Dragons, and the birds snapped a two-game losing streak thanks to some good fielding and clutch hitting.

July 22nd, 2009 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5 Hanshin Tigers 0 Streak: Won 3     Last 5:  WLWWW (Koshien) After yesterday’s rainout, two thirds of Tsubamegun were in attendance at the tiny, heavily-guarded visitor’s section in Koshien Stadium for an attempt at taking the series from the fifth place Tigers. In case you’re wondering, this [...]

July 15th, 2009 Yomiuri Giants 7 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 13 Streak: Won 1   Last 5: WLLLW (Jingu Stadium) On the first pitch of the game, Sakamoto, that little pre-pubescent twerp, smacked a double off the wall in center. But Tokyo starter, Tateyama, weathered the storm and got out of the inning relatively unscathed.  The [...]